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Apprenticeship reforms have paved the way for higher education (HE) providers, including universities, to become Degree Apprenticeships (DA) training providers, creating new work-based HE routes. The changes aim to generate a new cohort of skilled individuals to support national economic growth, as well as improve levels of social mobility. The purpose of this paper is to focus on an HE partnership project which resulted in a number of collaborative models for development that address these aims.

The paper focuses on qualitative interviews undertaken during the process of creating DAs through a consortium of HE providers. It considers the collaborative relationships which were built on and which developed across the course of the short-term project. It assesses the concept of competitive collaboration and its link to social mobility.

The paper considers the various manifestations of collaboration which supported the DA developments in a competitive environment: collaboration as embedded; collaboration as negotiation; and collaboration as a driver for social mobility and social equality.

Working collaboratively across HE providers sought to raise the status of apprenticeships, provide opportunities for the development of new degree apprenticeship curricula and enable practitioners to establish these as a new route into HE. This paper contributes to what is currently limited knowledge about the impact of degree apprenticeships on social mobility and equality.

Iconic buildings, especially museums, are often enrolled in creating an identity for cities, yet cities and museums have been sometimes uneasy partners in using architecture to shape city identity. This paper examines the negotiations of place identity amid the conflicting influences of global design trends and local cultural nostalgia through the case of a single development in Aspen, Colorado.

In this case study, using discourse analysis and grounded theory methods, the authors analyzed interviews, planning documents and critical opinions in the press to reveal the ways in which complex identities and contradictory planning directives shape a single building in a hyper-glocal Western town.

This analysis presents a place with complex and at times conflicting identities: residents have intense local concerns in parallel with global allegiances. The Aspen Art Museum building by Shigeru Ban similarly reflects a complex and contradictory identity with its bold design which confronted notions of local identity expressed in the built environment. Despite engaged citizenry and carefully crafted planning directives, the resulting design did not reflect locally produced culture but instead revealed the influence of international capital in the urban fabric.

This study examines the tension between hyper-local concerns and international status enacted on a single site in a small yet metropolitan place in the American West offering insights regarding the emplacement of buildings and the subsequent impacts on a place. As cities and institutions move beyond placeless iconic architecture, architecture and urban planning practice will need to adapt to the new paradigm where buildings can be at once global yet also local, drawing on innovative design practices and local culture in the construction of place.

Purpose: The issue of whether participation in online peer-support communities has positive or negative impacts on the psychological adjustment of cancer patients warrants further explorations from new perspectives. This research investigates the role of personality traits in moderating the impact of online participation on the psychological adjustment of cancer patients in terms of their general psychological well-being and cancer-specific well-being.

Methodology: Study participants consisted of adults diagnosed with leukemia. Questionnaires were collected from 111 participants in two leukemia-related forums in China, Baidu Leukemia Community and Bloodbbs. Information regarding the personality traits, online participation, and psychological adjustment were collected using an online questionnaire. A linear regression model was used to test the moderation effect of personality traits on the relationship between online participation and psychological adjustment.

Findings: The main effect of participation in online support communities on psychological adjustment was not statistically significant. Importantly, two personality traits (i.e., emotional stability and openness to experience) moderated the relationship between online participation and psychological adjustment to cancer. Leukemia patients with high emotional stability and high openness to experience reported better psychological adjustment as they participated more in the online community. However, this was not the case for patients with low stability and low openness, who reported worse psychological adjustment as their participation in the online support community increased.

Value: This study introduces two personality moderators into the discussion of how participation in online support communities influences the lives of cancer patients. The moderation effects help to explain why there have been contradictions in the findings of previous studies. In addition, this study adds to the current literature on online support communities as little research on this topic has been conducted outside of the US and Europe. Practically, this study not only highlights the need to evaluate the personality traits of patients who are recommended to participate in online communities, but also underlines the necessity of intervention in these communities.

Women experience a triple burden of ill-health spanning non-communicable diseases (NCDs), reproductive and maternal health conditions and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in sub-Saharan Africa. Whilst there is research on integrated service experiences of women living with HIV (WLHIV) and cancer, little is known regarding those of WLHIV, diabetes and/or hypertension when accessing integrated care. Our research responds to this gap.

The INTE-AFRICA project conducted a pragmatic parallel arm cluster randomised trial to scale up and evaluate “one-stop” integrated care clinics for HIV-infection, diabetes and hypertension at selected primary care centres in Uganda. A qualitative process evaluation explored and documented patient experiences of integrated care for HIV, diabetes and/or hypertension. In-depth interviews were conducted using a phenomenological approach with six WLHIV with diabetes and/or hypertension accessing a “one stop” clinic. Thematic analysis of narratives revealed five themes: lay health knowledge and alternative medicine, community stigma, experiences of integrated care, navigating personal challenges and health service constraints.

WLHIV described patient pathways navigating HIV and diabetes/hypertension, with caregiving responsibilities, poverty, travel time and cost and personal ill health impacting on their ability to adhere to multi-morbid integrated treatment. Health service barriers to optimal integrated care included unreliable drug supply for diabetes/hypertension and HIV linked stigma. Comprehensive integrated care is recommended to further consider gender sensitive aspects of care.

This study whilst small scale, provides a unique insight into the lived experience of WLHIV navigating care for HIV and diabetes and/or hypertension, and how a “one stop” integrated care clinic can support them (and their children) in their treatment journeys.